The Obsession with Eagles

And to seal his prayer, farseeing Zeus sent down a sign. He launched two eagles ... —a glaring, fatal sign— talons slashing each other ... All were dumbstruck, ... people brooding, deeply, what might come to pass … Until the old warrior Halitherses, Mastor’s son, broke the silence for them: the one who outperformed all men of his time at reading bird-signs, sounding out the omens ... “... a great disaster is rolling like a breaker toward their heads. Clearly Odysseus won’t be far from loved ones any longer— now, right now, he’s somewhere near, ... breeding bloody death for all these suitors here, pains aplenty too for the rest of us who live in Ithaca’s sunlit air. (2.146 - 86)

In Book 2 appears the first sign of the ominous eagle sent down by Zeus. The scene describes in great detail the vicious eagles fighting (I took out a lot of the intense details, because it's such a long quote). We are already seeing foreshadowing of Odysseus' return to Ithaca and his revenge plan from the "breeding bloody death for all these suitors" part of the quote as early as Book 2(2.l84).

For good part of the book through Telemachus' trip and The Wanderings, there is no mention of the eagle omen until Book 15 when Telemachus is setting sail to return back to Ithaca, "At his last words a bird flew past on the right, an eagle clutching a huge white goose in its talons..." (15.179 - 80). The crowd goes crazy, and King Menelaus interprets the omen as Odysseus, like the eagle who plucked the helpless goose, "will descend on his house and take revenge," (15.197). Menelaus' interpretation of the eagle is very similar to that of Halithereses' from Book 2 (coincidence? I think not!). Homer is heavily foreshadowing that Odysseus will carry out some kind of revenge on the suitors.

Irony is thrown into the mix in Book 19 when Penelope talks to Odysseus disguised as the beggar. Penelope tells Odysseus about this very strange dream she has where an eagle kills her twenty geese and then leaves them "in heaps throughout the halls," (16.608). After having read the slaughter scene, looking back on this, I can't help but laugh, because that's pretty much exactly what happens to the suitors. Furthermore, the eagle even calls out in a human voice, "'The geese were your suitors - I was once the eagle but now I am your husband back again at last, about to launch a terrible fate against them all!'" (19.618 - 20). It's pretty obvious at this point that the suitors' fates are pretty much sealed. Then Penelope remarks that the geese just go back to pecking their wheat in the same water trough where they always eat. It's ironic, because everyone is getting these warning signs that Odysseus is coming except for the suitors who are oblivious to everything and continue to feast in the great hall just like the geese in Penelope's dream who just "peck their wheat"(19.606). Likening the suitors to the geese in Penelope's dream and to the white goose from Book 15 really emphasizes how powerless they are to Odysseus' wrath, because geese are birds of prey and weak compared to eagles.

In Book 20, the eagle omen presents itself to the suitors who are plotting against Telemachus. Odysseus in disguises tells the suitors that Odysseus is coming home and the cowherd cries out, "'if only Zeus would make that oath come true.'" (16.263.) And lo and behold, an eagle clutching a trembling dove appears in the sky which prompts Amphinomous to call off their plot saying "My friends, we'll never carry off this plot to kill the prince. Let's concentrate on feasting," (20. 272 - 73). I view this scene as Amphinomous interpreting the omen as a warning not to kill the prince rather than that Odysseus is coming back, because the suitors continue to deny the possibility of his return. Even when the foreboding eagle is presented to the suitors, they still don't recognize what's in store for them.

My eagle radar goes up again in Book 22's slaughter scene where the attackers (Odysseus & co.) are described as eagles in their slaughtering; it's pretty graphic. Odysseus is finally fulfilling his symbolic role as the eagle as he's slashing left and right through his suitors like the eagles that prey on smaller birds. Omens were a big part of Greek mythology and for the Ancient Greeks, the eagle is a message from the Gods. Homer uses this important bird symbol throughout The Odyssey to foreshadow the events to come.